The Making of a University Hub for Basic Cultural Anthropological Research Related to Cultural and Biodiversity Conservation

没有一个群体能免受生态危机的影响，但土著、农村和少数民族社区往往是受害最深的群体。该项目以两种方式解决危机期间的不平等问题：1）重点关注“其他人”，特别是喜马拉雅山较高地区的土著社区，这些社区目前正面临重大环境问题; 2）包括本科生和研究生，他们将开展研究、外联活动和讲习班。从这个意义上讲，该项目进一步发展了社区和国际高等教育机构之间的长期协同作用，包括研究文化人类学和生物多样性保护的利益相关者。该研究对包括行为科学和社会科学在内的各种科学领域进行了三角测量。它研究了传统生态知识假说，着重于四个相互关联但又相互独立的目标，以确定：（1）某种形式的市场结合是否能够在不侵蚀当地生态知识的情况下发展;（2）宗教信仰是否与自然环境的保护有关;（3）个人的社会文化和人口特征在多大程度上影响传统生态知识;（4）知识共享的选择是否基于社会线索。该研究涉及几个高度创新的元素，例如作为第一个深入研究文化规范，宇宙论和信仰的研究之一，将尖端的统计建模和社交网络研究与更多的定性，传统文化的方法，探索如何学习过程中随着时间的推移而变化。该项目是由HBCU共同资助支持，卓越研究计划。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

No group is immune to ecological crises but indigenous, rural, and minority communities are often the ones that suffer most. The project addresses inequities during crises in two ways: 1) by focusing on 'other others', particularly on indigenous communities of the higher Himalayas, that are now confronting major environmental problems; and 2) by including undergraduate and graduate students who will conduct research, outreach activities, and workshops. In this sense, the project further develops long-term synergies between communities and international institutions of higher learning, including stakeholders that study cultural anthropological and biodiversity conservation.The research triangulates a variety of scientific fields including the behavioral and social sciences. It studies the Traditional Ecological Knowledge hypothesis (TEK) by focusing on four interconnected yet separate objectives to determine (1) whether some forms of market incorporation could develop without eroding local ecological knowledge; (2) whether religious beliefs are associated with the conservation of the physical environment; (3) the extent to which individual socio-cultural and demographic traits affect TEK; and finally (4) whether the selection of knowledge sharing is based on social cues. The study involves several highly innovative elements, such as being one of the first in-depth examinations of cultural norms, cosmology, and beliefs to integrate cutting-edge statistical modeling and social network studies with more qualitative, traditional cultural approaches to explore how the learning process change over time.The project is funded with co-funding support from the HBCU-Excellence in Research Program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.